Don't forget, Unocal is a friend of the Taleban, here's a NYT story...
May 23, 2001
Taliban Propose an Identity Label to 'Protect' Hindus
By BARRY BEARAK
ANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 22 — The Taliban rulers, worldwide pariahs for their harsh treatment of Afghan women and Buddhist statues, face further scorn with a proposal that would force Hindus to wear an identity label on their clothing to distinguish them from Muslims.
The plan originated with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Taliban officials insisted today that the scheme was actually a harmless effort to safeguard Hindus from harassment.
"Hindus should not look like Muslims, for their own protection, so that they are not bothered by the religious police," said the main spokesman for the government here, Abdul Hai Mutmain.
Pickup trucks with heavily armed militants routinely patrol city streets, making sure that Muslim women are wearing the head-to-toe burka and that Muslim men are diligently attending the rituals of prayer.
The proposal, which would have to be approved by the supreme Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, to take effect,drew immediate criticism. To some, the scheme brings to mind the yellow Star of David that Nazis imposed on Jews.
Hindus in India are waging irate protests. "We absolutely deplore such orders, which patently discriminate against minorities," said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Raminder Singh Jassal. "It is further evidence of the backward and unacceptable ideological underpinning of the Taliban."
[In Washington, the State Department added its condemnation. "We want to make quite clear that forcing social groups to wear distinctive clothing or identifying marks stigmatizes and isolates those groups and can never, never be justified," a spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said at a news conference. "We remain committed to bringing the Taliban and other Afghan factions into compliance with international norms of behavior on all human rights issues. And those norms would certainly preclude any step such as these."]
The precise requirements of the proposal remain unclear. The militia's Voice of Shariat radio station quoted Maulawi Abdul Wali, chief of the Virtue and Vice Ministry, as saying, "The non-Muslim population of the country should have a distinctive mark such as a piece of cloth attached to their pockets so they can be differentiated from others."
The law would primarily apply to Hindus, because there are few Jews and Christians in Afghanistan, and the Sikh population is readily identified by their turbans, Mr. Wali said.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hindus live in Afghanistan, primarily in Kabul and Jalalabad. Most of the men would be difficult to confuse with Muslims: The Hindus are clean shaven; the Muslims are required to grow beards.
"I can't understand what this is all about," said Raj Kumar, a Hindu in Kandahar. "I know the Taliban's religious police. They've never demanded that I wear a beard or given me any problems at all. As for our women, they are veiled just like the Muslims. That's been our tradition for generations."
The Taliban control 80 to 90 percent of Afghanistan, a country that has been involved in 22 years of war. Battles continue between the Taliban and their last remaining opponents, the Northern Alliance.
With the Taliban has come a stern interpretation of Islam that outlaws watching television, listening to music and playing cards.
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